Presently, some Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) now offer "Voice over the Internet" telephony service. Subscribers of such telephony service typically initiate a telephone call for routing over the Internet by first dialing a local access number to gain access to a gateway maintained by the ITSP. After reaching the gateway, the subscriber making the call then enters the necessary verification information, such as an account number and/or Personal Identification Number (PIN), as well as the destination number of the called party. Following verification, the gateway converts the voice call received from the subscriber into an Internet Protocol (IP) call and then routes the call over the Internet to a destination gateway serving the called party. The destination gateway converts the IP call back to a voice call for routing to the called party.
The above-described method for completing voice calls over the Internet suffers from the disadvantage of requiring the calling subscriber to dial the local gateway number first, and thereafter dial the actual destination number. Such "multi-stage" dialing is inconvenient. Moreover, the need for multi-stage dialing to complete calls over the Internet necessitates manual intervention for facsimile service, and other types of calls that normally make use of single stage dialing.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for enabling a customer to enjoy voice over Internet telephony service without requiring multi-stage dialing.